German · New Poems: The Other Part

Übung am Klavier

Practice at the Piano

12 lines · 21 notes

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1
The summer hums. The afternoon makes one weary;
DerTheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Sommer
SommersummerSommer · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on summt
summthumssummen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
DerTheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Nachmittag
NachmittagafternoonNachmittag · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on macht
machtmakesmachen · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
müdewearymüde · adverbdepends on macht
Wordsummen, to buzz or drone summen means 'to hum, to buzz, to drone', the sound of bees or insects in the heat. Der Sommer summt means 'the summer hums', with summt the third-person present of summen.
Grammarmachen plus adjective, to make machen plus an adjective means 'to make someone that way'; müde machen is 'to make tired'. Here the object is left unspoken: 'the afternoon makes weary', an impersonal use of machen.
2
she breathed in, confused, the scent of her fresh dress
Grammaratmen given a direct object atmen normally means simply 'to breathe', but here it takes a direct object, ihr frisches Kleid, 'her fresh dress', accusative. She breathes the dress, meaning she breathes in its cool, freshly laundered smell.
WordConfused, from tangled verwirrt means 'confused, bewildered, flustered', literally 'tangled up', from wirr, 'tangled'. As an adverb it colors how she breathes, distractedly, her mind already elsewhere before anything has happened.
3
and laid into the well-drilled étude
Grammarlegen in plus accusative legen, 'to lay, to put', takes in plus the accusative to show motion into something, in die ... Etüde, 'into the étude'. What she lays into it arrives only on the next line, so the sentence stays open across the break.
WordEtüde and an unusual triftig eine Etüde is an étude, a practice piece written to drill technique. triftig today usually means 'valid, cogent', but here carries the older sense 'apt, fitting, sound', naming the dutiful, correct exercise she has been set.
4
her impatience for some reality,
GrammarImpatience with nach, not für die Ungeduld means 'impatience', literally the negation of Geduld, 'patience'. Rilke pairs it with nach plus dative, nach einer Wirklichkeit, 'for a reality', the same nach used in Sehnsucht nach, 'yearning for'.
5
that might come tomorrow, this very evening,
GrammarA relative clause with können die is a relative pronoun reaching back to eine Wirklichkeit, 'a reality', in the line before. kommen konnte, 'could come, might come', pairs the infinitive with the simple past of können, and the finite verb falls to the end of the clause.
6
that was perhaps already there, only hidden away;
Wordda sein, to exist da sein means 'to be present, to be there, to exist'. die vielleicht da war, 'that perhaps was there', proposes that the longed-for reality may already exist close at hand, only needing to be uncovered.
GrammarA strong verb's vowel change verbergen means 'to hide, to conceal'. It is a strong verb that changes its stem vowel in the simple past: verbergen becomes verbarg, 'hid'. The impersonal subject man leaves the concealing anonymous, 'that one merely kept hidden'.
7
and beyond the windows, lofty and possessing all,
Grammarvor plus dative for location vor, 'before, in front of, beyond', takes the dative when it marks a fixed location, here den Fenstern, dative plural of das Fenster. vor den Fenstern places the park on the far side of the glass, outside her practice room.
GrammarA present participle used adjectivally habend is the present participle of haben, 'having', used here to describe the park: hoch und alles habend means 'high and having everything'. The construction is markedly literary, giving the park a self-possessed completeness she lacks.
8
she suddenly felt the pampered, spoiled park.
GrammarVerb before subject after fronting empfinden means 'to feel, to sense, to perceive'; its simple past is the strong form empfand. Because the line begins with the fronted phrase und vor den Fenstern, the finite verb comes before its subject sie, following German's verb-second rule.
WordSpoiled, transferred to a place verwöhnt means 'pampered, indulged, spoilt', the past participle of verwöhnen, 'to spoil a person'. Applied to den Park it is a striking transfer, making the garden itself seem cosseted and lush with idle ease.
9
Then she broke off; gazed outside, folded
Grammarabbrechen, to break off abbrechen means 'to break off, to stop suddenly'; it is separable, ab plus brechen. In this main clause the prefix ab splits off and moves to the end, brach sie ab, while brechen supplies the strong past brach.
Wordverschränken, to fold or cross verschränken means 'to fold, to cross, to interlace', typically the hands or arms. Its object, die Hände, arrives on the next line, so verschränkte ... die Hände means 'folded her hands', the verb held over the line break.
10
her hands, wished herself a long book
GrammarA reflexive verb for wishing sich etwas wünschen means 'to wish something for oneself, to long for'. The reflexive sich is dative, 'for herself', and the wished-for thing is accusative, ein langes Buch, 'a long book', another escape from the étude.
11
and all at once pushed the scent of jasmine
GrammarA separable verb split by adverb The verb here is zurückschieben, 'to push back, shove away', separable, zurück plus schieben. The strong past schob, 'pushed', sits in this line, but its prefix zurück is held back to the next.
WordA compound noun for a scent Jasmin, 'jasmine', and Geruch, 'smell, scent', combine to form der Jasmingeruch, 'the smell of jasmine'. German builds such noun compounds freely; the final element fixes the gender and meaning.
12
back in anger. She found that it offended her.
WordAngered, an overcharged word erzürnt means 'angered, incensed, wrathful', the past participle of erzürnen, 'to enrage', from der Zorn, 'wrath'. Used adverbially, it describes how she pushes zurück, 'back', the scent she rejects.
Grammardaß plus kränken, to wound daß, 'that', introduces a subordinate clause and sends its verb to the end: daß er sie kränkte means 'that it offended her'. kränken means 'to hurt, wound, offend'; er refers back to der Jasmingeruch, the scent, since it is masculine. The spelling daß is pre-reform, modern dass.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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